The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Oak tree, botanically known as Quercus bicolor, commercially referred to as Swamp White Oak and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Green Nova’.
The new Oak tree is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Pulaski and Oconee Counties, Ga. The objective of the breeding program is to create new Oak trees appropriate for urban landscapes that have a freely-branching habit with glossy dark green-colored leaves that abscise during the winter.
The new Oak tree originated from an open-pollination of an unnamed selection of Quercus bicolor, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with an unknown selection of Quercus bicolor as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Oak tree was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single plant from within the progeny of the stated open-pollination in a controlled environment in Pulaski County, Ga. in November, 2004.
Asexual reproduction of the new Oak tree by grafting (chip-budded during the early autumn and splice-grafted during the winter) in a controlled environment in Oconee County, Ga. has shown that the unique features of this new Oak tree are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.